These construction workers are doing Radio Taiso
a popular morning workout routine in
Japanese schools and workplaces
Because, well, this is Japan.
The population of blue collar immigrant workers
like these has skyrocketed in Japan.
They work in convenience stores,
wait tables and build houses and roads.
But officially, they don't exist.
Japan's shrinking population is leaving
little choice but to open its doors
to foreigners like never before.
The question is:
Is Japan ready to be an immigrant country?
I'm Isabelle Niu.
This is Quartz. Please subscribe to our channel.
This is Dou Xiaowen.
She's from southern China
and one of the 1.5 million foreign workers in Japan.
By 2025, Japan estimates it will be short
about 377,000 nurses and caregivers.
It's not just nursing.
With infrastructure projects for the 2020 Olympics underway,
there are 4.3 construction jobs open
for every person who applies.
Between 2016 and 2017, the number of bankruptcies
in Japan caused by staff shortages doubled.
And the problem is only going to get worse.
That's because Japan's population is shrinking
by about 400,000 people a year.
And to make matters worse,
the percentage of that population who can work
is also getting smaller.
This is not just a Japan problem.
Populations are aging around the world.
The developed world is set to lose 10%
of its working age population this century.
To slow down this trend,
a lot of countries have turned to immigrants.
And in a very limited way,
Japan has too.
Over the past few decades,
the country has been letting in
a small number of low-skilled foreign workers.
They just don't like to talk about it.
- The usage of immigration policy is kind of prohibited here
This is Professor Chieko Kamibayashi
who studies Japan's convoluted foreign labor policy.
You're teaching a prohibited subject?
- So I say 'foreign workers' problems'
Foreign workers in Japan are either
specially skilled workers like Dou Xiowen
or they are low-skilled workers doing menial jobs.
on visas for trainees and students.
There are hundreds of thousands who
fall into the second category.
They are indispensable to Japan's economy,
but rarely talked about in the media... until last year.
In 2018, Japan passed a law that would allow
345,000 blue collar foreign workers to come in
over the next five years,
officially opening the country to unskilled workers.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said
the law will help small firms across Japan cope with
a labor shortage problem.
Outside the country, the law was billed as an immigration overhaul.
But the government insists these workers won't be immigrants.
The type of visa low-skilled workers can apply for
is capped at five years and does not allow them to bring their families.
Basically, 'come and work here but don't plan on staying.'
Kamibayashi says the policy could end up creating
a second class workforce,
that hurts the society in the long run.
And she points to Germany as a cautionary tale.
In the 1960s, Germany invited hundreds of thousands
of guest workers from Turkey to fill its labor shortage.
The government made no effort to help them integrate
or upgrade their skills.
And then told them to leave when the recession hit.
But about half of the workers didn't.
Today, the Turks are the largest minority group in Germany
and also the least integrated - with the unemployment rate
nearly three times the national average.
Another criticism of the new law is that
it makes it easier to exploit low-skilled foreign workers,
something that's happening under existing regulations.
Each year thousands of foreign workers flee
harsh work conditions to go underground.
Some have found refuge in temporary shelters like this one in Gifu.
It's run by Zhen Kai, a Chinese labor activist,
who has lived in Japan for decades.
I met Huang Shihu.
He's 27 and came to Japan as a trainee two years ago.
Huang worked at a small cardboard factory
making $900 dollars a month.
But shortly after starting the job, he lost 3 fingers
while operating a machine.
Huang is in Japan under a government-run program called TITP
which brings foreign workers here for a few years
to train them in Japanese companies.
Most of the people at this shelter were under TITP.
At 65, Ippei Torii is one of the most prominent
immigrant rights advocates in Japan.
He's been one of the fiercest critics of TITP
and he is joined by a number of international human rights groups
who say the program allows for widespread exploitation,
including human trafficking and forced labor.
I reached out to the government offices overseeing
the trainee program but they declined to comment.
Despite rampant violations, the government plans
to further expand TITP, which doubled in size in the last five years.
At the end of their training program,
trainees can apply for the new visa under last year's law
and keep working.
By some estimates, Japan could accommodate
as many as 15 million foreigners in the coming decades.
The fact is, Japan's future depends on immigrants.
Do you see Japan ever becoming an immigrant country?
Japan is taking other steps to deal with its shrinking population.
When you become a Quartz Member, you can watch my next video.
It's about Japanese government campaign
to raise the fertility rate
by making fatherhood sexy.